Over the past forty plus years British film director Tony Palmer has established himself as one of the country's foremost director's of documentary and factual based films. One of Tony Palmers first successes was the film All My Loving which was released in 1968. Some seven years later Tony had the idea, encouraged by John Lennon to document the history of popular music. The result was the groundbreaking and award winning series of films made for television under the title "All You Need Is Love"
The full series of films was released in 2008 to great critical and commercial acclaim.
In this episode at the end of the series we turn our attention to the future of contemporary music as it was in the mid seventies.
The film opens at a pop festival. Drug-smoking is very much in evidence. "These fellows will answer to God" says the Rev Jack Wyrtzen, "for all the pollution and evil they have spread around the world." "The thing about rock n roll" says Lester Bangs, "is that it is totally about adolescence, and about consumerism brought in the highest degree". In fact, as the film begins to point out, neither of these extreme points of view is true. Tangerine Dream perform religious music in Coventry Cathedral. Stomu Yamash'ta, a spectacular Japanese percussionist, clearly has nothing to do with adolescence: and no-one could describe Mike Oldfield as the product of consumerism.
Told through interviews with many of the main players of the time such as Mike Oldfield, Jack Bruce, Manfred Mann and journalist Lester Bangs the DVD contains footage from the likes of Balck Oak Arkansas, The Baker Gurvitz Army, Japanese compose and percussionist Stomu Yamash'ta and the Electric Light Orchestra.
